By ChinRes 
Following the announcement that former Chipotle CEO Brian Niccol would take over as CEO of Starbucks later this month, the coffee company is preparing to usher in a new era. There are, however, certain individuals who are not completely on board with the new leadership. One worker who has been with the company for over twenty years is concerned that it is yet another move in the wrong way.
“It used to be considered a great place to work,” the employee who has been there for a long time told Business Insider. “People wouldn’t leave Starbuck unless they were undergraduates and went up into a higher career, or they resigned with the company.”
According to the anonymous employee of Starbucks, who began working there in the middle of the 2000s, the firm had a reputation in the beginning for being a good employer to its staff members. The tides began to shift, however, when a number of adjustments, such as a reduction in personnel and an increase in ordering via mobile device, took place.
In the past, his shop had as many as five staff working each shift; however, that number has been reduced to only three, and the main reason for this is that more orders are being placed via the Starbucks app than in the past.
He added, “It started out as a trendy, weird coffee shop job, and since then, it’s just morphed into this soulless fast food empire.” He went on to say that the most recent leadership transition was a major element in contributing to this transformation. “Ever since Dwight left, I said things have simply gone downhill.” The former Chief Executive Officer, Howard Schultz, resigned from his position in 2017.
While this is going on, other Starbucks workers have resorted to Reddit to voice their own dissatisfaction with the changes that the firm has gone through. In one of the threads, a barista made a reference to the staffing reduction and said that they like working at the business “when it’s fully staff.” In response, another individual stated that “managing seven cars in a drive-through who all ordered three drinks with just two employees up front is very… fun!”
“Personally for me they ceased to be a coffee shop as they moved away from espresso makers to the automatics that require zero skill to use,” according to a Reddit participant. “Now they are an overpriced place to purchase coffee flavored sugary drinks via an app.”
There were, however, a number of other workers who contended that this is not precisely a new issue. “I worked at Starbucks more than 20 years ago, it was a soulless fast food empire before then,” a person remarked in response. “I don’t think that individual has ever been inside a weird coffee shop.”
“If they’ve had employment there for ‘nearly 20 years’ and hadn’t noticed that it was already the case at the time that they were hired…” a another individual said.
In accordance with the statements made by a spokesman for Starbucks, the firm conducts frequent meetings and surveys to solicit input from its staff members. In addition, workers at the store “have multiple opportunities during the year to voice their opinions, share their knowledge, and suggest areas for improvement,” according to the spokeswoman who talked with Business Insider.
Niccol’s probable intentions for employee salary and working conditions were not discussed, and they refused to comment on the matter.